ENTERPRISE on Blu-Ray OFFICIAL Discussion Thread

[ChristopherPike]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

Here is Part 1 of our special interview with Roger Lay, Jr. - one of the producers who worked on this set and produced the new bonus features:

http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exclusive-roger-lay-jr-interview-part-i/

I think all of those things hurt the show, and now we’re at a point where enough time has passed; those of us who are really hardcore fans of the Star Trek universe – you have the J.J. Abrams movies, to us, that’s not really ‘our’ Star Trek, that’s something very different – so I think that re-launching Enterprise now may satiate that need that hardcore fans have now to watch TV Trek, because I think Trek works best on television; your one-hour morality plays, what Gene really envisioned from the get-go. Now that there’s none of that in production, you have these movies that are big popcorn blockbusters that are not the Star Trek we fell in love with initially, I think fans will – hopefully – pick Enterprise up and see that there’s great value there, great stories there, a great intent… whether they were able to fulfill that or not, with the early cancellation and the issues they had; when it works, it works beautifully. You have episodes like "Dear Doctor", "Shuttlepod One", "Cogenitor", "Similitude" -- episodes that are just brilliant and do what star trek does best. In Season Four, I think – Season Four of Enterprise, for me, ranks up there with Seasons Five and Six of TNG, and Seasons Six and Seven of DS9 as one of the best seasons ever of any of the Trek shows. And Seasons One and Two of TOS. I really feel that Enterprise Season Four should be up there.

I think an Enterprise relaunch could potentially work. However I remember watching this series in order on broadcast too... the highs, the lows. It would hemorrhage viewers quickly. The audience would lose patience. In order to be successful, there would have to be changes. A very selective season-run of episodes. Like it or not, losing "Faith of the Heart" from the opening title sequence would make a difference. A brand new show, without the turn off theme tune. Not to me, I must stress. But certainly a sizable majority, given how common the complaint was...

One thing I can't get over is how bad the song is in the opening credits. It's serious dog shit.

...and apparently still is.


Dipping back in my posting history, I'm reminded of this I once had to say...

I'd like to see an experiment done where CBS rebrands Star Trek Enterprise, to discover how many viewers that can get on one of its main flagships channels. You know, in Prime-time or close to - at an hour unprecidented for a 10 year old property.

13 of the best episodes, mostly from Season 4 (I would expect) although a handful of earlier ones too. North Star has a "Cowboys and Aliens" vibe. Broken Bow still one of the best Star Trek pilots. Regeneration with the Borg in it is underrated.

Completely new opening title sequence, losing the middle of the road pop song - to give it a fighting chance. So even Simon Pegg wouldn't dare turn over.

Outlay to CBS? Basically nothing. How many people had HD back when it was on the air BUT do now?

There are enough stories in the last Star Trek series to assemble a line-up that doesn't outstay its welcome.

Now, that was a few years ago (2011) and you have to wonder if television is getting less and less relevant.

But 26 seasons a year is an outdated format. It would be cut down to 13 shows, building to a heavy story-arc driven climax in the final episode.

Enterprise would be cutdown to something like this...

My attempt to redo Season 1 & 2 with 13 episodes per year.

Also I've moved stories around from one season to another to try to make it different. Plus include the standalones I didn't fit into my take on Seasons 3 & 4 above. I've tried to think about continuity, avoiding major contradictions. "Observer Effect" looking very different is the only major issue but I wanted to keep that somewhere. "Singularity" is a fantastic re-introduction and there's nothing better than have the characters get on each other's nerves and exaggerate their failings for that.

0. Broken Bow

1. Singularity
2. Fight or Flight
3. Civilization
4. The Andorian Incident
5. Breaking the Ice
6. Fortunate Son
7. First Flight
8. Silent Enemy
9. Shuttlepod One
10. Fusion
11. Dear Doctor
12. Shadows of P'Jem
13. Cold Front

0. Shockwave Part I & II

1. Regeneration
2. Minefield
3. Dead Stop
4. Carbon Creek
5. Fallen Hero
6. Detained
7. Stigma
8. Cease Fire
9. North Star
10. Observer Effect
11. Judgment
12. Future Tense
13. The Expanse

 

[RAMA]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

I don't really have a problem with the ENT theme, my wife loves it. That's good enough for me.

RAMA

 

[ChristopherPike]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

I don't really have a problem with the ENT theme, my wife loves it. That's good enough for me.

3 down.

5,999,997 members of the audience to go.

I don't dislike the theme, but even if I did, that wouldn't make me any less of an Enterprise fan. If had a dollar for everytime I heard somebody knock the theme tune... Yeah, well, I still wouldn't have been rich enough to make Season 5.

 

[StewMc]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

I always thought the effects were done at 480p due to the render times?

I'm positive that at least a few shots over the years were done at 480p to save time, I recall someone on the show (Doug Drexler maybe?) mentioned this at the time and it was even discussed on this very BBS at one point. Unfortunately I can't find any reference to it now, I had started to think I imagined it but possibly not now.

EDIT: Found something, an article from early 2005 where Ronald B. Moore mentions that some shots were rendered in SD and then up-rezzed for time. There's also this thread on another forum where someone mentions it, and also this post on TrekBBS with some quotes from the above article and others, including one that implies that all VFX compositing was done in SD at one point.

Perhaps that's why some of the VFX shots look poor at 1080p?

 

[ChristopherPike]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

All this would make for an interesting part of a documentary...

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=30235

...by the time, they reach Season 4. I'm guessing nothing about Al Vinci's involvement in the Save Enterprise campaign, back in early 2005, can be substantiated.

I remember $3 million dollars being pledged by an anonymous person, thought to be involving in the spaceflight industry. It would be nice if something of that did come out at some stage. Whether 10 years on or longer.

 

[tomswift2002]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

Of course, it'll be interesting to see if CBS puts season 4 out in 1080i or 1080p. All the S4 live-action (except the opening to "In A Mirror Darkly, Part1" which was still shot on film) was shot on 1080i HD tape.

 

[ATimson]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

Of course, it'll be interesting to see if CBS puts season 4 out in 1080i or 1080p. All the S4 live-action (except the opening to "In A Mirror Darkly, Part1" which was still shot on film) was shot on 1080i HD tape.

Are you sure about that? I don't recall any "soap opera effect", which certainly would've been noticed if they shot 1080i instead of 1080p...

 

[tomswift2002]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

They fixed "soap opera" issue before putting it out. I remember there were numerous questions along those lines back in 2004 because of the switch to tape from film, plus I believe they even addressed the issue in the audio commentary for "In A Mirror Darkly, Part 1", where the commentators were talking about the switch back to film for the teaser so that the footage would match up with no problems.

 

[ATimson]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

They fixed "soap opera" issue before putting it out.

Going back to StarTrek.com at the time, they said it was filmed using a "Sony 900" camera. That leads me to believe they're talking about the HDW-F900, which does support 1080i60, but also 1080p24, which would be compatible with their existing production process/footage. (This is the same camera used to film Attack of the Clones.)

Do you have any source saying that the footage was actually shot in 1080i60? Because everything I can find indicates they probably shot in 1080p24. (Before you cite Memory Alpha, their only source is the StarTrek.com article I linked above.)

 

[tmosler]

enterprise blu ray being done by tng remastering team

Hi I just have a quick question. I was wondering if the same team whos doing the tng remastering is doing the enterprise blu ray. the reason I ask is I dont want the tng remastering team to over extend themselves since there remastering tng.

 

[BruntFCA]

Re: enterprise blu ray being done by tng remastering team

Hi I just have a quick question. I was wondering if the same team whos doing the tng remastering is doing the enterprise blu ray. the reason I ask is I dont want the tng remastering team to over extend themselves since there remastering tng.

ENT was shot in HD so it doesn't need remastering which is why it's being released before DS9 or VOY.

 

[tomswift2002]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

The HDW-F900 was produced with a maximum resolution of 1080i upto 2003, at which point an upgrade package was released which allows the camera to record 1080p at 30, 24 & 23.98 (a model that integrated this upgrade was released in 2006), but the tape that was used, HDCAM, could only store up to 1080i natively, with 1080p being stored in segmented sections. (HDCAM SR can store native 1080p, but according to all the sources this format was not used, except maybe in the editing bays.).

http://hd24.com/page6/page7/page50/page50.html


Plus many NLE editing suites at the time allowed for interlaced footage to be interpreted into progressive video.
Therefore, especially with the 1080p only being available via an upgrade (and even to rent it probably upped the cost tremendously) at the time of Enterprise, and with the tape format only being able to natively support 1080i, it is most likely that Enterprise Season 4 was shot in 1080i.

(Also I just watched Mirror part 1 where they shot on film and tape for the episode, and the main episode looks softer than the teaser. If you look at the people's outlines, the people in the teaser have sharper outlines, but then after the opening the outlines are soft.)

 

[ATimson]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

The HDW-F900 was produced with a maximum resolution of 1080i upto 2003, at which point an upgrade package was released which allows the camera to record 1080p at 30, 24 & 23.98 (a model that integrated this upgrade was released in 2006), but the tape that was used, HDCAM, could only store up to 1080i natively, with 1080p being stored in segmented sections. (HDCAM SR can store native 1080p, but according to all the sources this format was not used, except maybe in the editing bays.).

http://hd24.com/page6/page7/page50/page50.html

I don't see on that page where it claims the 2003 upgrade was what allowed 1080p24 on the F900. It just mentions "a few minor upgrades with a major upgrade promising 1 stop extra dynamic range and reduced noise in the blacks."

More importantly, a 2003 upgrade would be over a year after Attack of the Clones was released (two-plus years after it was shot) in 1080p24 with that very camera. So something doesn't add up there...

 

[tomswift2002]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

But also the tape format, HDCAM, only records at a resolution of 1440 by 1080, compared to HDCAM SR that actually records a full 1920 by 1080 image. So, it would be better for the live action to have been shot at 1080i and then interpreted to 24p later.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

Lots more coming tomorrow where we'll discuss the 720p vs 1080p VFX debate, audio commentaries, cast reunions and music from the show.

Part 2 of the interview with Roger Lay Jr., one of the Producers responsible for value added material for Enterprise on Blu ray.

http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exclusive-roger-lay-jr-interview-part-ii/

Interesting how quickly a release date was given. I guess if it wasn't for the team working on TNG championing a similar standard of contemporary extras, ENT would just have been HD episodes off the shelf and all the 2005 SD content ported across. So a lot of what might otherwise have been planned and scheduled to make Season 1, is to follow. He mentions an effort being made to reunite the cast and a wishlist of ideas for future seasons. The last one will be amazing all over again I'm sure... John Billingsley coming onboard for that... being filmed this week, along with Anthony Montgomery, Matt Winston and John Fleck. Jeffrey Combs for an audio commentary presumably.

 

[FrontierTrek]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

^ It should be noted I did this interview a few weeks ago, so Montgomery, Winston & Fleck are already done by now!

 

[ChristopherPike]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

Yeah, well, I am an incredibly slow typer!

I hope they can get a HD version of the alternate title sequence together. That one startrek.com did, with the music normally on the end credits, plus Scott Bakula narrating "Space... the Final Frontier".

That would make a neat extra. Personally I think it's more beneficial as an opt in/out alternative angle feature, replacing "Faith of the Heart" across all episodes. Since DVDs and Blu rays can sometimes be enhanced by that kind of seamless branching. As TOS was with original & remastered FX choices.

 

[RAMA]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

^ It should be noted I did this interview a few weeks ago, so Montgomery, Winston & Fleck are already done by now!

I already thought people were hard on Enterprise but the stuff Im seeing with the extras here, plus a lot of new people sampling it are starting realize my prediction that Enterprise will be more appreciated in the future.



RAMA

 

[FrontierTrek]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

Here's Part 3 folks! http://trekcore.com/blog/2013/02/exclusive-roger-lay-jr-interview-part-iii/

Here we discuss the missing episode trailers, the new "On the Set" feature (which sounds AMAZING), and the archiving of all of this wonderful material in the Paramount vaults.

 

[ChristopherPike]

Re: The bird is out: ENTERPRISE on blu-ray

Thanks again. Lots of facinating stuff again there. It's nice to hear Star Trek has been a lot better sorted and stored away, than other TV shows these guys have put documentaries together for.

UPN trailers were hit and miss with me, but it's a shame they've found many are missing. I hope these Syndication promos made after the show was cancelled in 2005 for a selected repeat run (eventually replaced in the schedules by TOS-R), find their way onto Season 4 VAM package, since they're not at startrek.com any more.